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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Kaleun96, post: 7815588, member: 92635&quot;]This is my first tetradrachm from Sicily, which I didn&#039;t exactly plan on buying but with the numerous test cuts this example was relatively cheap. Test cuts aside, I really love the detail on the coin and would take it over a more worn but test cut-less example. Below is an amalgamation of some interesting tid-bits I found when researching this type.</p><p><br /></p><p>This one is from the city of Messana, also known as Messina, but originally called a much more unattractive-sounding &quot;Zancle&quot;. The biga on the reverse is not with horses but instead mules and while it appears to show only one there is a second that forms a faint silhouette behind the first. Strangely enough, yet very topical, this is actually depicting an event from the Olympics of ancient Greece: the mule-cart race (apene).</p><p><br /></p><p>Anaxilas was a tyrant of Rhegium, a stone&#039;s throw across the water from Messana (then &quot;Zancle&quot;) on the Italian mainland. He seized Zancle around 488 BC and renamed it after his homeland in the Peloponnese. Only a decade or so before this, the biga mule race was introduced in the Olympics, which Anaxilas himself then won in 480 BC. The obverse of this tetradrachm, dated between 480-460 BC, is thus commemorating his success at the event and ostensibly depicts him riding in the biga. The reverse design with the hare may be a nod to the story that Anaxilas supposedly introduced hares to the region.</p><p><br /></p><p>A minor note on the reverse, the N&#039;s (nu) in Messana are retrograde, which is not too uncommon on early coinage in general nor on this type but usually it is paired with retrograde sigmas. I&#039;ve only found a couple other examples so far with normal sigmas but retrograde nus. I&#039;m not sure the reason for it, perhaps the engravers forgot to carve the N in retrograde so that it would print normally when struck.</p><p><br /></p><p>Hopefully the 360 GIF below works, if not you can find a higher quality (and interactive) version on my website here: <a href="https://artemis-collection.com/360-messana-tetradrachm/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://artemis-collection.com/360-messana-tetradrachm/" rel="nofollow">https://artemis-collection.com/360-messana-tetradrachm/</a></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://artemis-collection.com/wp-content/uploads/1114_messana_tetradrachm_resized.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p>[ATTACH=full]1343335[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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